Friday, September 30, 2011

Anwar al-Awlaki Killed

We've been hunting Anwar al-Awlaki for quite some time and it appears that we finally got him. Details are unclear, but several news sources are reporting that he was killed in a drone strike. Naturally terrorist rights supporters are unhappy. I wrote about al-Awlaki and the ridiculous arguments of those claiming that he deserved "due process," a year ago in my post "Kill Anwar al-Awlaki."

6 comments:

He does deserve due process, as does anyone. I understand that people sometimes die being brought to justice, so the fact that he died isn't the issue to me, but when the aim is expressly to assassinate from the get-go... it's disturbing.

It's also childish to write off people who question such actions as "terrorist rights supporters." It's not about terrorists, it's about human beings. Regardless of how one defines a person, they are a person. I don't specifically defend terrorists, otherwise I would have defended the actions of the US government.

They call them infidels, we call them terrorists, but they're people, and each side is wrong when they fail to see that.

No he doesn't for reasons I already explained. Sometimes assassination is justified, as it is in this case.

Terrorist rights supporters is an accurate term for those who pretend that foreign terrorists should have rights under U.S. law -- that's why I use it.

"They call them infidels, we call them terrorists, but they're people, and each side is wrong when they fail to see that."

Obviously people are people. That's irrelevant to anything I've argued, unless you are trying to make some sort of natural rights argument. I don't believe in natural or inherent rights any more than I believe in gods.

I know Southern sympathizers who, to this day, would disagree with you. I think they're nuts, but what do I know?

While I oppose state executions in general (because I oppose big government, unlike conservatives), I really oppose these drone attacks. Do you have any interest in how many innocent people are killed in them, or would my research in the matter just fall on deaf ears?

"I know Southern sympathizers who, to this day, would disagree with you. I think they're nuts, but what do I know?"

So what? Again, we are talking about entirely different situations.

"While I oppose state executions in general"

This is war, not the execution of someone who has been apprehended and convicted of a crime.

"Do you have any interest in how many innocent people are killed in them, or would my research in the matter just fall on deaf ears?"

I'm well aware of it and have posted and linked articles about it before, with regard to the drone assassination program in Pakistan. There are a significant number of situations where I think we would be better served by having actual teams of assassins rather than relying on drones, since people on the ground can better discriminate between valid targets and innocent bystanders.

I was initially skeptical of the whole drone assassination program, and feared it might be counterproductive. But, we've had some notable successes and on balance I think they are an overall positive. Unfortunately innocent people die in wars. If you don't want to die in a drone strike, don't allow terrorist enemies of the U.S. to take up residence nearby. And if you can't prevent it, get away from them. Everyone should know by now that we are targeting Al Qaeda figures.